Next let us ask, if they please, out of so great a crowd of gods which the Romans worship, whom in especial, or what gods they believe to have extended and preserved that empire.Now, surely of this work, which is so excellent and so very full of the highest dignity, they dare not ascribe any part to the goddess Cloacina;(1)or to Volupia, who has her appellation from voluptuousness; or to Libentina, who has her name from lust; or to Vaticanus, who presides over the screaming of infants; or to Cunina, who rules over their cradles.But how is it possible to recount in one part of this book all the names of gods or goddesses, which they could scarcely comprise in great volumes, distributing among these divinities their peculiar offices about single things? They have not even thought that the charge of their lands should be committed to any one god: but they have entrusted their farms to Rusina; the ridges of the mountains to Jugatinus;over the downs they have set the goddess Collatina;over the valleys, Vallonia.Nor could they even find one Segetia so competent, that they could commend to her care all their corn crops at once; but so long as their seed-corn was still under the ground, they would have the goddess Seia set over it;then, whenever it was above ground and formed straw, they set over it the goddess Segetia; and when the grain was collected and stored, they set over it the goddess Tutilina, that it might be kept safe.Who would not have thought that goddess Segetia sufficient to take care of the standing corn until it had passed from the first green blades to the dry ears? Yet she was not enough for men, who loved a multitude of gods, that the miserable soul, despising the chaste embrace of the one true God, should be prostituted to a crowd of demons.Therefore they set Proserpina over the germinating seeds; over the joints and knots of the stems, the god Nodotus; over the sheaths enfolding the ears, the goddess Voluntina; when the sheaths opened that the spike might shoot forth, it was ascribed to the goddess Patelana;when the stems stood all equal with new ears, because the ancients described this equalizing by the term hostire, it was ascribed to the goddess Hostilina; when the grain was in flower, it was dedicated to the goddess Flora; when full of milk, to the god Lacturnus;when maturing, to the goddess Matuta; when the crop was runcated,--that is, removed from the soil,--to the goddess Runcina.Nor do I yet recount them all, for I am sick of all this, though it gives them no shame.Only, I have said these very few things, in order that it may be understood they dare by no means say that the Roman empire has been established, increased, and preserved by their deities, who had all their own functions assigned to them in such a way, that no general oversight was entrusted to any one of them.When, therefore, could Segetia take care of the empire, who was not allowed to take care of the corn and the trees? When could Cunina take thought about war, whose oversight was not allowed to go beyond the cradles of the babies? When could Nodotus give help in battle, who had nothing to do even with the sheath of the ear, but only with the knots of the joints? Every one sets a porter at the door of his house, and because he is a man, he is quite sufficient; but these people have set three gods, Forculus to the doors, Cardea to the hinge, Limentinus to the threshold.(1) Thus Forculus could not at the same time take care also of the hinge and the threshold.
CHAP.9.--WHETHER THE GREAT EXTENT AND LONG DURATION OF THE ROMAN EMPIRESHOULD
BE ASCRIBED TO JOVE, WHOM HIS WORSHIPPERS BELIEVE TO BE THE CHIEF GOD.
Therefore omitting, or passing by for a little, that crowd of petty gods, we ought to inquire into the part performed by the great gods, whereby Rome has been made sO great as to reign so long over so many nations.Doubtless, therefore, this is the work of love.For they will have it that he is the king of all the gods and goddesses, as is shown by his sceptre and by the Capitol on the lofty hill.Concerning that god they publish a saying which, although that of a poet, is most apt, "All things are full of Jove."(2) Varro believes that this god is worshipped, although called by another name, even by those who worship one God alone without any image.But if this is so, why has he been so badly used at Rome (and indeed by other nations too), that an image of him should be made?--a thing which was so displeasing to Varro himself, that although he was overborne by the perverse custom of so great a city, he had not the least hesitation in both saying and writing, that those who have appointed images for the people have both taken away fear and added error.
CHAP.10.--WHAT OPINIONS THOSE HAVE FOLLOWED WHO HAVE SET DIVERS GODSOVER DIVERS
PARTS OF THE WORLD.
Why, also, is Juno united to him as his wife, who is called at once "sister and yoke-fellow?"(3) Because, say they, we have Jove in the ether, Juno in the air; and these two elements are united, the one being superior, the other inferior.It is not he, then, of whom it is said, "All things are full of Jove," if Juno also fills some part.Does each fill either, and are both of this couple in both of these elements, and in each of them at the same time? Why, then, is the ether given to Jove, the air to Juno? Besides, these two should have been enough.Why is it that the sea is assigned to Neptune, the earth to Pluto? And that these also might not be left without mates, Salacia is joined to Neptune, Proserpine to Pluto.For they say that, as Juno possesses the lower part of the heavens,--that is, the air,--so Salacia possesses the lower part of the sea, and Proserpine the lower part of the earth.
They seek how they may patch up these fables, but they find no way.